


something in the water

by divinemalefactor (panathema)



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF, Sideshow - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Feelings Realization, M/M, Merman!BedBananas, Not Beta Read, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 13:35:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20026678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panathema/pseuds/divinemalefactor
Summary: Buck works at an aquarium, which totally isn't a problem. Not at all. Not even if he happens to still be terrified of deep water after some unfortunate events during his childhood.





	something in the water

**Author's Note:**

> in this au, merpeople are known about. there are two general categories: deep sea mers and shallows mers. the former are larger and more monstrous, while the latter are more human-like and can usually speak to humans.
> 
> yeah i still call them by their handles instead of their real names. what are u gonna do abt it

Despite Buck’s aversion to deep water, his job at Stone Ocean Aquarium had become a permanent thing. It was supposed to just be a summer job as he settled into his new town, living with his friends Criken and Shayne in a nice house because the place was big and that meant paying rent. Serious rent, too. Too much to not have a solid job. Buck ended up staying at the job much longer than he'd intended.

Sure, working at a massive marine park was kinda stupid considering nothing scared him more than the thought of falling into one of the many massive water tanks, but it paid well and it was ‘ethical’, which his parents had approved of when he’d called to tell them about it. That was two years ago. Buck was now twenty-one, and _still working at the damn marine park_.

At least he’d been given a promotion a month ago, right? Fuck yeah, that’s right baby, Buck was moving up in the world.

The manager had seen him talking to the merfolk a few too many times, and instead of scolding him, had decided that he got along with them well enough to become their main handler. It meant better pay, too. Way better, but that was probably because the risk of drowning at the hands of a merperson was a billion times higher than any other animal in the aquarium.

It was cool, though. The merfolk that Stone Ocean Aquarium got in were always injured and recovering, or loners without pods. Mers were pretty smart despite their animalistic tendencies, so they didn’t attack without reason, and they understood the aquarium was trying to help them. Most of the time.

True, a lot of the other staff (and people in general) were terrified of mers, but Buck himself had no reason to hate them and every reason to like them. He still remembered the day he’d been caught in a rip current, taken out to sea so far the shore seemed to disappear behind the waves. Remembered the tiny, chubby merboy who’d saved him but struggled hard to bring him back to shore, stupidly fighting the rip the whole way back instead of going around it. Buck had never got to thank him, and although ever since that day he'd despised deep water, his opinion on merpeople was strictly positive ever since.

Mers at the aquarium listened, often feeding off of Buck's chaotic energy, and he was happy to spend time with them. Nobody really thought of them as social creatures, but they were, and Buck understood that, often spending many hours overtime just to fuck around with them. They were more tolerant than most humans were, too, which Buck appreciated.

There were only four long-term mers currently kept at Stone Ocean Aquarium, the price of their accommodation being that they had to provide entertainment for guests, and one new addition that had been found trapped in the hold of a poaching ship, covered in minor wounds and likely captured for eating or domestication.

Tomato was a long-term resident and the only mer Buck had ever heard bother with full conversations, and that was likely because he was a loner who lived in rockpools most of his life, enjoying fucking with humans right up until the day he was harpooned by a poacher. Luckily, the beach he’d been living at was public and the locals considered him friendly. The poacher had been stopped and arrested almost immediately.

Still, since his recovery, Tomato had decided to stay at the aquarium. He was the most interactive mer most people had ever met, although that wasn’t to say he was overly sweet or attentive. Trying to integrate him with the main pod had been a failure for many reasons, so the aquarium had settled for giving him stardom in the form of a glamorous solo pool. Buck was one of the few people Tomato got along with and didn't play fucked-up mind games with.

“The new guy.” Tomato was lounging, beached up on one of his luxurious sunning rocks, red tail wet from the buckets of water Buck had been dumping on it for him. “The new guy’s a carp, right?” His low voice was set in a drawl thickened by faux arrogance, sounding like some shitty aristocrat, so snobby it made Buck bark a short laugh at the ridiculousness. “We don’t accept thems short boys here.”

“Short boys?” Buck copied in a pitched tone, drawing the ‘o’s out far too long.

“Short boys,” Tomato parroted, higher pitched. With a flick of his tail, he sent the bucket of water that was being poured on him up, sloshing the contents all over Buck. It was times like these that Buck could admit the gross wetsuits staff had to wear were functional. As usual, though, he wasn't wearing one.

“You sick bastard,” Buck hissed in a nasal voice. “You sick, sick fish.”

“Hey. You were pouring it on me first, it’s just payback.”

Buck didn’t stop to think about the consequences, just wiggled his hands under Tomato’s body and heaved, trying to tip him into the pool. It was, of course, a failed attempt. Tomato was massive, easily twice as long as Buck and three times as heavy, and he laughed cruelly at the pathetic attempt, the fins on either side of his head fanning forwards and back to convey his amusement.

Not many other people would have dared lay a hand on a merman, let alone attack one like Buck had, because they were hardly the _kindest_ looking beasts. They were monstrous, with teeth and claws drawn straight out of nightmares, and depending on if they were from shallows or deep ocean, their faces could be pretty damn terrifying too.

Tomato, while more human than some, had particularly long claws, curved and deadly. The red fins and extra spiney-frills Buck didn’t know the proper names of were excessive, showy and distracting, making him look even bigger than he actually was. All in all, he was kinda scary, actually.

Buck didn’t give two shits. Naughty fish deserved to be dunked and that was final. He also considered Tomato a friend by now, and naughty friends deserved to be dunked even more.

Still, he had to admit defeat, laying an open-palmed slap on Tomato’s tail, a wet smacking sound filling the air alongside his groan of irritation. The two paused, blank faced as they stared at each other. Buck repeated the movement, cracking a wild grin at the comedic, meaty slapping sound.

“I’ll eat you, little Bucklington,” Tomato warned, voice a menacing growl. It wasn’t very convincing, not when he was smiling like that (which, considering his needly teeth, might be horrifying to some, but Buck knew him too well by now to be worried).

“Fine. I’ll go be with the carp boy, he’s got more manners.” Buck was using his stupid, snarling voice, daring Tomato to object. When he didn’t, Buck gave a huff. “You know, in the few weeks I’ve known him, he’s been a much better friend.”

“Oh really? I heard from Charborg that he just ignores everyone.”

“Yeah, but not me. Not me, I’m the merboy whisperer. I whisper things to him and he _listens_. He even spoke a little, told me his name, whispered it to me, because I’m the merboy whisperer, and we whisper things to each other.” Buck didn’t mention that Bed hadn’t spoken since.

“I thought it was illegal for you two-legged fucks to get dirty with us? What’re you doing whispering to some poor, innocent merboy? Seducing him? Huh? Making him your fish-wife? You disgust me.” Despite the teasing in his voice, Tomato was clearly a little curious.

“I’m not,” Buck said quickly, trying to cover the fact he was flustered by the accusation. “I’m _noooot_. How dare you. How dare you, you, you. You lure me in here, make me pour water on you like I’m your little bitch, just to bully me?”

Tomato shrugged, bright eyes reflecting the light of the sun in a way that was entirely inhuman, adding an aura of menace to him.

“I’m not taking this!” There was no real malice in Buck’s voice, only that same goblin-like gruffness. He got to his feet, half-heartedly throwing his bucket at Tomato and scrabbling his way towards the gate, ducking just in time as the bucket went sailing by, clearly having been aimed at terminal velocity at his head. Snickering the whole time as he locked the enclosure gate after himself, he quickly made his way towards Bed’s pool.

Truth was, he actually had work to do outside of socialising with the merfolk all day. Today was the day they were going to try integrating Bed with the small resident pod. The pod consisted of two shallow mers, a male and female, and a merman from deeper ocean. None of them had ever taken to talking, but they understood Buck enough to be easy to interact with. Teaching them tricks was easy as anything and Buck got paid big money for the little effort he put in. 

Tricks. It was pretty shitty, but Stone Ocean Aquarium was still a business, and it had to attract crowds as a big source of its funding, so the merpeople still had to have some draw. Some attributes to pull in paying guests. Where Tomato was terrifying, rude, and smart, the pod could do the basic aquatic tricks; hoops, balls, and taking cues. While Buck never joined in the actual shows, he was a big part of the training simply because he got the best results.

It wasn’t a job he loved, but the results were best when he’d helped out. He’d tried to tell them so many times it was because he talked to them like people, because they _were_, but the other trainers never seemed to get it. Mers weren’t dolphins, but they so many people tried to train them as if they were. Buck wasn’t even coordinated enough to do that shit, it was easier to just ask the mers. To talk and maybe make a fool of himself to put them at ease, and it worked every time.

Tomato had told him it was because he acted like a baby merman, ridiculous and hyperactive, and merpeople felt an urge to protect him. Buck had given a dramatic roar and dumped a bucket of chum on the big red bastard.

Unfortunately, _Bed_ wasn’t a big red bastard, which meant he wasn’t enough of an anomaly to work on his own and would have to integrate with the pod, joining their performances. It was also for his own health, because mers were naturally sociable creatures, and if Buck could manage to get the pod to accept him, it'd make the healing process a lot easier.

Buck couldn’t help but feel a little nervous over the process and knew he was more erratic and jumpy as a result. Bed was such a docile dude despite his scary appearance. His tail was a little chubby, a pretty white koi pattern with dappled oranges and blacks and delicate looking white-orange fins, and the humanoid upper half was slim and pretty. Aside from the gauntlet-like spikes up his arms, he looked like a normal boy, with teeth that were maybe a little sharp and webbed fingers that maybe ended in nails a little too thick and a fishtail, but hey. 

Hey.

Buck wasn’t picky with his friends. Couldn't afford to be.

The first time he’d met Bed was as the merman had been struggling against the ropes the aquarium workers were using to transport him to his pool after his initial rescue, and the two had locked eyes. Bed had stopped moving immediately, clearly interested in Buck, while Buck himself had thought there was something familiar about the boy.

His interest in Bed had been too obvious, although that was mostly because Buck didn’t often dwell on subtlety, to the point a lot of the staff teased him about having a crush. He didn’t even know if the teasing was malicious or not, but each time he’d respond by joking about it, playing it off or amping it up to the point of obvious overacting.

The thought of liking a merman was ridiculous. Just stupid really. Fucking weird. He just really enjoyed talking to Bed, and looking at him, and trying and failing to teach him tricks, and feeding him, and being around him. That was all. Buck had only jumped around and gotten giddy from excitement the first time Bed had told him his name.

The handlers had moved Bed into a small pool attached to the big pool containing the pod, divided by a wall of strong bars. It was set up so Bed was ready to be introduced to the pod on Sunday, which was… now, unfortunately. As Buck let himself into the enclosure through the ‘staff only’ gate, he grumbled nonsense to himself, eyes fixed on where the two shallows mers from the pod were pressed up against the bars, clearly intent on Bed where he was hunkered down against the opposite side of his own pool, wary of the larger mers.

Merfolk were the only creatures that required absolute minimal handling. Any other animal, and there would’ve been plenty of people on hand ready to jump in if things got dicey. Mers didn’t like being crowded, though, and somehow, through several fortunate accidents and excellent coincidences, _somehow_ Buck’s manager ended up believing he was some kind of mer expert or something. Despite being totally, completely untrue, Buck had to admit the pay rise had been very sexy.

With a net-and-pully machine at the edge of the pool, ready to catch Buck and pull him to safety if necessary, Buck had to tell himself things would go fine. While they were naturally territorial creatures, they were also empathetic and often intelligent enough to recognise when they were faced with a new member of the pod rather than a threat, and this pod were already quite gentle. If they weren’t, there would’ve been more securities in place.

Of course, just because Buck had his own fantastic luck, the next forty minutes were… a disaster. First, the main gate between the two pools wouldn’t raise, and there was no way he was getting in to fix it, so he’d have to use the smaller gate and entice Bed or the Pod to go through. Risky business.

Buck took his shoes and socks off, rolled his pants up as far as they would go (which was not very) and dipped his feet in Bed’s smaller tank, ignoring the sinking feeling in his gut at being in and near such deep water. Bed didn’t seem to mind, even swimming up to be near him, although he kept Buck between himself and the pod, moving slowly as though afraid they’d break through suddenly and rush to eat him. The goal was to calm the skittish merman down.

Doing what he always did, Buck talked to Bed as though he were a friend, complaining about how he could be at home watching E3 right now instead of doing this, but that it was worth it for the dosh. The hard stuff. Not like drugs, like cash. They didn’t even pay him in cash, though, it went right into his bank account. So not that hard because it was digital currency. 

Throughout his ranting he did his usual accent and odd intonations, and as usual, Bed slowly seemed to relax. The small fins on his head that had been pinned flat back like the ears of a terrified dog slowly relaxed, the delicate ends moving with the water. He broke the surface to listen, resting his arms on the side of the pool and putting his chin on top of them, looking between Buck and the pod. Torn between whether to listen enraptured or keep an eye on the overwhelming, strange mers such a short distance away.

After an hour, Bed seemed to be as calm as he was going to get. Slowly Buck’s one-way conversation died off as he tried to figure out how to get them through, and how to best prevent himself from getting fired. The best way would be for the mers to not kill each other. Probably.

Buck wasn’t cut out for this.

Which was why his plan ended up completely hair-brained, with Bed wriggling uncomfortably in a makeshift harness of rope that was attached to the pulley system. Buck was sweating but proud of himself.

He’d tried cooing at Bed about what a good boy he was but had been glared at suspiciously for his troubles. Admittedly not the best approach, so he’d gone on to talking mindlessly again as he set it up, starting with patting Bed’s hair, and working down to aimlessly patting his scaled shoulders when that had been okay.

Although he’d never tried to get close to Bed before, Buck was pleased to find that they could both tolerate the touching, and at one point Bed’s eyes had slipped shut and he’d given a heavy sigh of contentment. Buck had paused, looking down at the boy with odd fondness. The moment lasted barely a full second before he’d moved on to slip the rope net over Bed, guiding those _very scary_ clawed hands through the holes in the net. 

Aside from watching, curious and confused, Bed allowed himself to be maneuvered. The amount of trust he had in Buck was flattering and entirely undeserved, but hey, Buck was going to get paid well if he could do this by himself.

So there they were, Bed awkwardly wriggling in the makeshift harness in his own pool, unaware that Buck was about to throw him in the deep end. Hah, because he was a fish. In water. The deep end.

Buck thought it was funny, anyway.

While making no effort to hide his laughter at Bed idly tugging on the rope in frustrated curiosity, Buck walked backwards until he bumped into the control console for the gates, leaning back over it awkwardly as he fumbled for the gate controls. It took a moment of poor coordination, but he managed to get the smaller gate between the two pools open. It was close to the surface, an emergency hatch, but it would do. Now he just had to get the pod through so he could start introducing them to each other.

Despite the risky nature, Buck ended up grabbing some food, just the cheap shit and only a few bits, the dried fish crumbling in his bare hands. Puffing his chest out, he waved the fish out in front of him erratically, catching the attention of the pod. 

“I don’t— I don’t have any gloves on, dudes, this really— this, fuck. It stinks, guys. It really stinks. You better appreciate it.” Buck continued as he always did to hide how tense he felt with the eyes of four merpeople on him and a difficult job ahead.

Surfacing on their side of the gate, the pod were eyeing the fish but were used to being asked to do tricks in exchange for treats, eagerly awaiting instruction. 

“Now,” Buck began, chin tucking down as his voice dropped into a low, slow drawl of a man much older and sturdier than he really was. “This could go one of two ways.”

The pod grew more excited in response, knowing Buck’s voices meant it was time for _something_. There was a moment of confusion when Buck simply flung the dried fish bits into Bed’s smaller pool, then all four mers were shooting towards the floating food.

“You guys keep calm and meet each other, or I pull little sushi man here out of the water,” Buck continued, raising his voice to make sure he was heard, unsurprised when he didn’t get a response. He was more than a little worried for Bed, hoping the pod wouldn’t intimidate him too much.

Bed darted forward first, fast and seemingly unbothered by the net around him, intent on reaching the food. This advance twisted into a graceful but hurried tumble to stop his momentum when he saw the pod come rushing in through the open gate. Seeing them racing towards him at high speed, Bed gave a powerful flick of his tail in the water and propelled himself away again, teeth bared and eyes wide. 

Watching from his spot next to the lever for the pulley, Buck chewed on one of his fingernails as the pod got their hands on the food, demolishing it in seconds. It was almost funny to see Bed’s outraged expression. Almost. What wasn’t funny was the way he’d bristled, on edge with his claws out in front of him, ready to take the pod on.

The pod weren’t hostile at all, the shallows mermaid curiously approaching him, hands reaching out placatingly. 

To Buck’s horror, Bed was the one to attack, vicious claws tearing up the mermaid’s arm, not stopping when she reeled away, tail working quickly as she tried to swim away. He launched into her, teeth snapping and claws swiping, the water around them quickly staining red. 

The other two from the pod were quick to help their friend, and Buck stood on in shock as Bed took them all on. Watching the koi take on a shark-like deep-sea dweller, vicious and ugly as he tore into it, Buck was nothing short of transfixed, morbidly intrigued to see his seemingly soft merman nip at and gore the others. 

All of this in the span of a few seconds, and then Buck was scrambling to pull the lever, hoisting his spitting, furious merman out of the pool. Only the deep sea merman tried to follow, launching out of the water but his own heavy body dragging him back down into the water before his teeth or hands could close around Bed’s tail.

Bed was struggling in the net, eyes alight as he tried to get back down to the pod.

It took a moment for Buck to recover from his shock, and then he was scrambling to get the pod back into their bigger pool, tripping over himself as he picked up the food bucket and chucked the whole thing in the bigger pool in his panic.

“Ay, get back, get back in the— Go!” Buck was yelling now, jumping and waving the pod back to their original pool, backing up quickly until his heels hit the control desk, then turning and poisoning his hand over the right button. Thankfully, they got the message just fine, slipping back through with the most injured at the front, the deep sea merman at the rear keeping an eye on Bed. As soon as they were through, Buck slammed his hand down on the switch, cursing loudly as he whacked his pinky finger too hard on the metal. 

Once that was done, he let himself relax just a little, realising he had sweat on his forehead and upper lip, and that he’d maybe not been breathing properly until now, as he took in hungry, deep pants of air.

“You…” He looked up at Bed, who was now almost free of his harness and probably a few seconds away from hurting himself. With just a little bit of spite, Buck stomped over to the pulley lever and pushed the release. He managed to lock eyes with Bed the moment before the merman was dropped back down into the water. “You dumbass! You asshole _fish_, come here.”

Bed had escaped the net-harness, eyeing the pod through the bars and ignoring Buck completely. For now, he was contained, and that was what mattered, even if things had gone badly.

Buck was going to get in so much shit for this. 

That didn’t explain why he felt so betrayed.

* * *

Buck did get in so much shit for that. A verbal warning only, which wasn’t too bad on its own, but he also got one thing he considered to be his worst enemy: a deadline. Two weeks was all he had to get Bed to show promise of being a good enough exhibit to warrant his own pool, or get him to integrate with the pod. Only two weeks.

Or else Bed was going to the local marine biology centre where they’d help him recover while doing some (allegedly humane) tests on him because he was such a ‘risk’. Not only that, but Buck’s verbal warning would become a written warning for his negligence that led to the mers from the pod getting injured.

Everything had gone from so good, to sitting precariously on the edge of being super shitty in a single day.

For a full ten days, Buck tried and failed to get Bed to comply. He wasn’t even certain Bed knew English by then because while he appeared to enjoy listening to Buck speak, he never acknowledged direct questions or orders.

The closest Buck got was when he’d dipped his feet in the pool, anger and fear at bed finally blown over and he was pretty much back to the way things were before. Not friends, but something comfortable. More than what Buck felt for the pod, that was for sure. Not quite less than what he had with Tomato, and no more, just… different. Just different.

During the extended time he spent trying to get to know Bed better and connect with him further, Buck found his ‘not friendship’ with the merman growing stronger in ways he didn’t want to think about. So he didn’t, sticking to his favourite methods of talking and… talking, mostly, yeah. 

With Bed being so difficult, Buck didn’t know what to do, spending longer and longer hours with him during the day, working overtime and off the clock. It was nearly night, the sun slowly edging down towards the horizon, a single small floodlight already switched on to light up the pool area. The sunset was making everything look and feel a little warmer, bright orange light offering plenty of light for now. With the floodlight already on and ready for the oppressive dark of night, Buck had prepared in advance for once.

Or, well. 

No, maybe not, because when he got a sudden, stupid idea in his head, it was one he definitely hadn’t planned for. See, the thing was, most of the aquarium was closed by then, and he didn’t want to have to navigate his way back to the offices to get a wetsuit, so when he got the stupid idea that he should try getting in the tank with Bed, he simply tugged his clothes off.

Not all of them, though. He wasn’t that desperate yet. Just down to his boxer-briefs and t-shirt, Buck had purposefully avoided looking at Bed as he undressed, but hadn’t hesitated to ramble through it. 

“I just figured, it’s not so cold, right, and you’re in here, which I gotta, gotta trust. Should I even be doing that? Trusting you? No, no, probably not. Feels weird to be doing this, because I’m still super not cool with deep water and all, but I’m— I’m gonna just—” Buck sat at the side of the tank, looking down at the water, which proved to be a mistake when he felt that familiar lurch of fear. He knew it was just his imagination, but as soon as he dipped his legs in it felt like the water was tugging at him, trying to pull him under. 

Normally, when he had his clothes on and wasn’t planning to jump in, the fear was dull and ignorable. Now it was right there, pressing on him, making his chest feel tight and his stomach hollow.

“Right, okay, not looking. I won’t look! It’s not that deep, right? No way, and I know how to swim, so.” So it was fine, even if he hadn’t swum since that day on the beach. “There’s no waves or anything, and you’d save me anyway, just like.” Just like the other fish boy. 

Buck was getting to worked up, talking faster than usual and unable to finish his sentences. He was short of breath, barely shy of stammering as he worked his way through his words. For once, he’d have to just shut up and focus.

Going quiet, he looked up instead, at the clouded night sky. The night air was cool but not cold, and the tank was only a fraction colder than that. Feeling the water on his skin as he lowered himself down into the pool, he was glad that it was refreshing rather than stinging in its coolness. 

Watching curiously from a short distance away, swimming in lazy circles in the water, Bed was watching Buck cling to the ladder and make his way down into the water. Buck caught him staring from the corners of his eyes, but since he was trying not to focus on this whole stupid situation, couldn’t pause to joke as he usually would.

The silence was obvious, simply because Buck rarely allowed it, and the way it just sat there between them was awkward. Only the sounds of Buck being risky and letting go of the ladder with one hand to splash slowly through the water filled the air.

Focused as he was on lowering himself further still, Buck didn’t notice Bed coming closer until he was right next to him, a clawed hand poking at Buck’s body through his shirt to get his attention.

“Fuck, what the fu— What the,” Buck spluttered, gripping the ladder tightly, pressing himself against it as he twisted his body to look at Bed. “Do you, do you mind, like, at all?”

“Are you okay?”

The shock of hearing Bed talk was enough to distract Buck from his panic, his glare shifting into a black look of surprise, blinking as he stared. 

“Oh, yeah, yeah, I’m cool, dude, this is cool, fine. You talking is gonna make things pretty weird, though, I think? Well, I mean, because you haven’t listened to me for mmm, I don’t know, weeks, and now I’m in your tank naked, and you’re suddenly speaking again, which is fine, but it’s, and I know I’m not _naked_, but you’re right there.” Buck was stumbling over his words, getting more and more forceful as he spoke to cover his nerves. He felt like he wasn’t doing the best job, but his brain was jumping around so fast he couldn’t concentrate. Logically, he understood it was the stress of his job and being in the water that was making him so scattered, but at that moment he was just a mess. 

And that was before Bed started leaning his face in towards him, expression flat but curious, and Buck instinctively leaned away, hands slipping from the ladder to hook over the edge of the tank as he held on and shimmied along the side. Bed didn’t stop, advancing on him, and although he tried to keep his foot on the ladder, soon that had slipped out of reach.

It wasn’t as though he was scared of Bed, but it was intimidating to have a merman get in your personal space like that. He was overly aware of his fear of deep water, how stupid the situation was, Bed’s sharp teeth, and his own see-through white shirt. So very many things that were making this whole thing worse.

“Ah, okay, alright, this is fine, Bed, we cool. We cool, now I just. I have to teach you how to, to do tricks, and—” Buck was cut off by a small squeaking sound and was horrified to realise it had come from his own mouth, because Bed’s expression had turned stormy, teeth bared as he pushed into Buck’s space, bare wet chest plastered against his back. Buck didn’t even know he _made_ those noises when scared. It wasn’t really something he was proud of, he decided.

Because if he was clinging to a wall in deep water with an aggressive person, or animal, or person-animal, whatever they classified mers as now, pushed against him and ready to drag him under, that was it. Buck didn’t stand a chance. Bed wouldn’t even have to drown him, just drag him into the middle of the pull, or tug him under the water, and Buck would be _stuck there_, on his own with the imaginary currents dragging him away from safety.

“I don’t want to do that shit, dude, what don’t you get about that? I want to get out, I want to go home. I heard you say that if I can’t do your tricks I’ll be kicked out, so I didn’t do them, Buck. I don’t know what you don’t understand about that.” As Bed said his piece, Buck’s brain was torn between panicking and thinking with an odd sense of detachment that his voice was kind of pretty. Awkward, though, the words just a little too punctuated in a way that wasn’t normal. 

Where Tomato talked like a person, Bed sounded… ugh, there were so many descriptions and comparisons in Buck’s head, something about echoing caves and sound-trapping bubbles or underwater ripples, but nothing was making sense in his head in that moment. In the end, his conclusion of Bed’s voice was that it was nice. Just nice, and he wouldn’t mind if he could keep listening to it.

“Don’t eat me.” That wasn’t what he’d been planning to say, but Buck’s mind had clearly made up its mind that his fear took priority. 

“I—” Bed paused, blinking at him, fins on his head fanning in and out, like butterfly wings in how gently they moved, the movement and colours catching the light of the setting sun. It gave Buck something pretty to focus on that wasn’t those sharp words and teeth. “I’m not going to eat you. If anything I’m helping; you seem scared.”

“I’m not!” Buck insisted, but couldn’t meet Bed’s eyes, fidgeting against where the merman was pressed up against him. “I’m just, I’ve just had problems with deep water since I was a kid. I was at the beach and there was this, uh, this rip and I got dragged out, but this mer dragged me back, but it was still so fucking scary, dude. It stuck with me.”

Bed’s eyes had lit up, bad mood lifting instantly. He leaned in again, more insistent this time, face getting very close to Buck’s, who responded by flailing. The flailing led to him letting go of the side of the tank, slipping and twisting until his back was against the wall of the tank and the water was up to his chest. Automatically his hands landed on Bed’s shoulders, gripping tightly with fingers digging into the scaled skin as he kicked his legs trying to stay afloat.

Now effectively clinging to the mer, pinned between him and the wall of the tank, Buck didn’t have many escape options. Thankfully, Bed no longer seemed hostile.

“Yeah, I was there. I was there, Buck, I saved you!” Bed was making soft little chuffing sounds, pleased to have confirmed what he’d suspected since he first saw Buck. “That was me. You were sinking and really far out, so I took you back to shore. I remember.”

“What? No. What, really? No.” The revelation felt weird, and Buck wanted to ask if Bed was lying. There was no reason to lie, though, right? So it was probably the truth. It would explain why he felt oddly secure as Bed’s tail pushed between his legs to support him. Slowly he stopped kicking his legs, instead wrapping them around Bed’s body. “I. That’s crazy, that we’re in the same place now, that we found each other. Wow, dude, that’s. Cool.” He was having difficulty processing it.

Bed had no such issues, irritation from before completely swept away by his elation, wrapping his arms around Buck’s neck and leaning in for a hug, nuzzling his head against his chest. Buck snorted at the odd feeling of hair and the scales at the edges of Bed’s face on his chest, then hissed as Bed’s freaky arm-spikes scratched his neck. 

Instinctively shoving Bed away, Buck arched his back as he pushed, flinching at the pain in his neck. Bed backed up immediately, still holding Buck up but putting some space between them.

After reaching up to gingerly feel the area that hurt, Buck winced grumbled as he pulled his hand away, seeing his fingertips had blood on them, diluted by drops of water from the pool. He froze, looking at Bed worriedly. Did they go crazy when they smelled blood? No, shit, wait, that was sharks. Still, Bed’s eyes were fixed at the place on Buck’s neck he could feel pain radiating from. It wasn’t _bad_ pain, feeling more like a light abrasion than a real cut.

“You’re not poisonous are you?” Buck asked, talking slowly and deep, trying to keep things calm.

“No, no, oh god, I’m sorry.” The fins on Bed’s head were pinned back flat, worry evident on his features. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, I’m not used to how soft you are.”

“Soft?!” Buck sounded offended, but he found the descriptor funny, welcoming the distraction from the sting of the injury. “How dare you, I’m a mountain man, a man of muscle, body like steel, and— Ow, fuck! Fuck you, man.” He descended into laughter he couldn’t quite stifle as Bed gently pinched one of his cheeks. “What are you, my grandmother? Stop, stop that. I’m not _fat_.”

Bed was smiling too, but still seemed tense. Hurting Buck had ruined whatever good mood had been building between them.

“I like seeing you, it’s been great, listening to you and all that, but you know I can’t do your tricks. I don’t want to stay here,” Bed said, going back to the topic of contention. Buck was disappointed to be dragged forward into the serious conversation when they’d only just moved back into the comfortable banter he preferred.

“Yeah, but, weren’t you hurt or sick or something?” Buck was genuinely worried, mostly about him but also about his job, because shit, if he couldn’t get Bed to behave he was in trouble.

“No, I can take care of myself, I’m fine. I just don’t want to be here.”

“Oh, oh, I know you can ‘take care’ of yourself.” Buck snorted, feeling just a little bitter about Bed not wanting to stay, sourly remembering how savage he’d been when confronting the aquarium’s pod. “You can’t just do that, you, you, you hurt them, they wanted to be friends. You could’ve lived with them, it would’ve been, I mean, did you choose to ignore me? You’re talking and listening now, why didn’t you listen back then— Hey, stop, what, what’re you.” Buck stopped talking abruptly as Bed leaned in and bit his chin.

Bed had been baring his teeth and make a humming sound as Buck talked, but he hadn’t expected _that_. It wasn’t particularly painful, just weird as the insanely sharp teeth dug into his skin for a few seconds before letting go. As terrifying as it was, it was also weird enough that instead of losing his mind, Buck just stared at Bed with an expression of unsettled confusion frozen on his face.

“Uh…” It wasn’t often that Buck was rendered speechless, but this was an uncomfortable position. He was suddenly very aware of how Bed was pressed up against him, holding him, and although he was no longer giving him a warning bite, Bed’s face was still very close. “Easy, easy, don’t eat me.”

“I already said I wouldn’t.” When Bed talked, the air from his mouth fanned over Buck’s face, warm and pleasant. 

Until the smell hit.

“Blegh.” Buck scrunched his nose up. “You need to eat more vegetables, more kelp, more mints or learn to brush your teeth. Your breath is bad, dude.” He dropped into a low, theatrically drawling voice, trying to cover how flustered he was. “Hey, hey, don’t ever do that weird shit again, boy-a. Stop squeezing me, too, your spikes are fucking painful.” He paused, then narrowed his eyes in exaggerated suspicion. “Unless… I’m a hostage?” It was a joke, of course. Of course, right?

“No, no, I just know you’re scared of the water still from that time, and I want,” Bed trailed off, a frustrated look on his face as his focus darted between Buck’s eyes, focusing on one and then the other as though searching for an answer in them. He looked down, head tipping forward to rest on Buck’s chest again. “I want you to be safe.”

The sentiment was not unwelcome, but it wasn’t as though Buck knew how to respond to it. Swallowing thickly, throat suddenly too tight and breathing difficult. 

“You’re not a hostage, I just need your help to get out. Like back then, when I saved you. Please?”

“But I don’t want to.” The words left Buck’s mouth before he could stop them. He’d never been good at thinking about things before he spoke, and he knew immediately what he’d said was wrong. 

Bed raised his head once more, eyebrows scrunched together as he looked at Buck in question.

“Because here I can see you every day, I don’t— I don’t want to miss you. I’d miss you.” It was not what Buck had been planning to admit, but still, he couldn’t stop the words from escaping. Frowning and looking away, Buck was angry as he realised his eyes were stinging. Not because of tears. He wouldn’t cry over this, even if all these emotions in him were getting confusing. He knew wanting to keep Bed was selfish for multiple reasons but wasn’t he just an animal? Merpeople weren’t _people_.

Immediately horrified by the thought, Buck placed his hands on Bed’s biceps, holding tightly in an attempt at comfort he didn’t need to give. 

“I’d talk to you more if I was free,” Bed offered quietly.

“Why don’t you just talk more often now?”

Bed shrugged, before responding with a simple, “I’m just not comfortable with it. I’m not comfortable here.”

“Okay.” Buck sighed, the breath stuttering out of him. He was still nervous, something he wanted to blame on being in deep water but was undoubtedly because the boy he had a crush on was plastered against him a single layer of drenched clothing between them.

Ah, wait. Wait, wait, wait. 

Crush?

Did he really have a? A thing? For the fish?

Shit, no way, he couldn’t. Couldn’t do that.

“I, I, okay, let me out. Let me out of the pool, I’ll go get dry and see if we can pull a ‘mission: free Willy.’”

Bed laughed, even though Buck bet he didn’t understand the reference at all, and wrapped his arms around Buck carefully, avoiding catching him with those stupid arm spikes again. Fighting the initial urge to struggle as he was lowered into the water, Buck clung to Bed as the mer moved them back towards the ladder. He ignored the noise he made as Bed pressed him against the ladder with his body, an embarrassing squeak he quickly turned into a cough.

Buck fought the blush but failed miserably, feeling like the sun was beating down on his face and burning it, despite it having set by now. The lone floodlight provided light but not heat, and there was no way he was warm anywhere but his red cheeks.

“I’ll be back, fish-boy. I’ll try to get an escape crew. Gather some soldiers up, get a gang together, we’ll do a fucking heist, baby,” Buck said, bravado in place as he avoided looking over at the tank, looking around the area and realising he hadn’t bought a towel with him. Oh well, at least it wasn’t a particularly cold night.

Bed didn’t respond, and as Buck risked a glance, he saw the mer had sunk down in the water already. He was swimming in swirling movements, something that looked like a mix between a dance and that video of the pufferfish caught in the bubble vortexes. A little graceful but a lot stupid and dorky. 

As Buck locked up, he thought over what Bed had asked of him. It was true he owed Bed, and it was true he wanted him to be happy, but if Buck got caught freeing Bed without permission, he could get sued. The aquarium would no doubt pass it off as him releasing an injured mer irresponsibly, or even trying to sell Bed. While the aquarium was the lesser of many evils, Buck still knew Bed craved freedom.

There wasn’t really an option. Buck cared too much, and his resolve was set. He would free Bed. Tomato too, if that was what he wanted. They were his friends, after all, and Buck would do anything for them.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for the ambiguous ending. just imagine the human boys freed bed, but tomato wanted to stay because he actually likes it there. criken suddenly becomes a regular at the aquarium for some reason. buck visits the ocean daily, also for Some Reason. things are good.
> 
> if the fic feels disjointed, that's because i've been using it as a writing warmup for the past few months, so it's a bit of a mess in terms of tone and narrative. it also, i hope, explains any horrendous spelling mistakes or name mix-ups


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